Casey Stoner of Repsol Honda struggles to find grip at Laguna Seca – MotoGP news
Repsol Honda rider Casey Stoner led the first free practice session of the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix but faced lack of grip during the run.
Though he improved his lap times in the second FP but still he was placed third in final time sheet behind his teammate Dani Pedrosa.
Stoner’s aim was to get rid of the overheating of the tyre which causes quick wear out and eventually a loss in grip. The problem has hampered his performance in the last two rounds at Mugello and Sachsenring.
Casey Stoner said, “We've been trying all day to get a slightly different balance with the bike to get the tyres working differently but we're struggling to get the feeling that we want and that we've had in the past.”
Stoner pulled his best lap time of 1:22.300 seconds in FP1 to score the top seat and with improvement in FP2, he was at 1:22.231 seconds with a top speed of 264.5 Km/h. Although he was fractionally faster than the morning session but the effort was not sufficient
to place him on the top seat again.
In the post-race MotoGP official test at Mugello, a new swing arm was installed in the RC212V which provided better results with much improved lap times. Therefore, the Aussie decided to use it in the following round. However, the new swing arm enhanced
the pace but also wore out the tyres more due to overheating.
Stoner further said, “We've changed the set up quite substantially, with pivot positions and trying to get the rear to work with a little less temperature in the tyre, which we've accomplished but still haven't got the grip that we want and we're creating
too much wheel spin.”
The Aussie rider was also searching to get a better feel from his RCV’s front end. He is not yet satisfied with the set up. The Repsol team will be working overnight to solve the problem and come up with a stronger setup for FP3 and qualifying practice.
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